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Topic: Trehalose and your plants (Read 2719 times)

Yesterday I posted in our Sugar Science Forum (under the How to Use Trehalose Section) my comment about using trehalose in the soil of your plants and asked you to report your results back to us. Trehalose is the most soluble sugar used in the study which enables its saturation ability to permeate the cell and influence gene expression.

This morning a science paper jumped out at me as I was reading the April 2008 issue of Plant & Cell Physiology published by Oxford University Press. The article I read was on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists.

The science paper is entitled: Constitutive Components and Induced Gene Expression are Involved in the Desiccation Tolerance of Selaginella tamariscina by Mao-Sen Liu1, Ching-Te Chien2 and Tsan-Piao Lin1,*

Selaginella tamariscina, one of the most primitive vascular plants, can remain alive in a desiccated state and resurrect when water becomes available. To evaluate the nature of desiccation tolerance in this plant, we compared the composition of soluble sugars and saturation ratios of phospholipids (PLs) between hydrated and desiccated tissues of S. tamariscina using gas chromatography. In this study, differences in gene expression and ABA contents were also analyzed during dehydration. The results revealed that trehalose (at >130 mg g�1 DW) was the major soluble sugar, and low saturated fatty acid content in PLs (0.31) was maintained in both hydrated and desiccated tissues. In addition, the ABA content of S. tamariscina increased 3-fold, and genes involved in ABA signaling and cellular protection were up-regulated while photosystem-related genes were down-regulated during dehydration. The biochemical and molecular findings suggest that both constitutive and inducible protective molecules contribute to desiccation tolerance of S. tamariscina.

April 2008 issue of Plant & Cell Physiology published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. (For the paper or subscription to Plant & Cell Physiology Journal email: [email protected] or go to their website at www.oxfordjournals.org